Structural Integrity
by bubblegirl89236
Summary: The crime lab is obliterated by an explosive. People are still trapped inside, who are they and will they survive long enough to be rescued? And who would do such a thing? Adam/OC whumpage-a-plenty. Image courtesy of 'Ambro' from FreeDigitalPhotos .net
1. Chapter 1

**Here is my 2nd CSI:NY fanfic. Enjoy...**

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*Adam*POV*

[Adam is analysing all the evidence from the current crime scene as most people are working on the "rose" case]

"I'm here to install a new piece of equipment" A man announced from the doorway.

"Ok, yeah, sure, go ahead" Adam said feeling left out of the loop.

Adam picked up all his results and made his way to Mac's office, leaving the man alone in the lab.

* * *

*Macs*Office*

"What is the maintenance guy installing?" Adam said, wanting to know what cool piece of kit he would get to play with next.

"We aren't due for any new equipment"

"Then what the hell is that guy doing in the lab"

They both paused a minute and ran straight back to where Adam was working.

They both stopped abruptly outside of the lab.

"I swear, he was here just a minute ago" Adam said trying not to sound crazy.

"Well he's not here anymore and I don't see any new equipment" Mac said not knowing what else he could do.

Adam had a quick look around the lab.

"I think I've found something" Adam said referring to a box inconspicuously sitting in the corner which he was pretty sure wasn't there a couple of minutes ago.

Adam picked up the letter sitting on the top.

In case you find this before the big event, which won't be too far away, I give you a warning to save yourselves.

Inside this box is an industrial sized explosive, just enough to take out the whole of your building. If you open up the box you will see how long you have before it goes off and do not try to disarm it unless you want a premature explosion and more lives lost.

I warn you only because I do not agree with killing people unnecessarily and I target no one in particular.

As Adam was reading the letter, Mac read it over his shoulder, so they were now on the same page.

Mac carefully opened the box. Revealing a red LED display reading 0:09:56

"Adam, get everyone out now"

Adam made a swift decision and turned away to pull the fire alarm.

"Good thinking Adam, now get yourself out"

"I will when everyone's out"

"Clear out this level then, I'll make sure that everyone knows what's going on and gets away from here" knowing that he needed Adam's help if they had any chance of clearing the building in time.

Adam nodded and ran off.

Mac went to the reception (on that level) and informed everybody over speaker of the situation so the whole building could hear him.

He made his way downstairs and made sure the immediate area was clear and exited the building as soon as it was.

He made a quick head count of his team.

He was still missing Adam and Sheldon.

He pulled out his phone and called Adam.

"Adam, where are you?"

_Still on the same floor_

"Is Sheldon with you?"

_Yeah. We're about to make our way down._

"Hurry up. There isn't much time left".

Adam and Hawkes were grabbing as much evidence as they could, the important pieces anyway, since they figured the whole point of the bomb was to destroy evidence and didn't want to let them succeed.

Adam had a quick look at the timer on his watch, that he had quickly set.

Only 3 minutes left.

"Let's go"

*One*Minute*Later*

The timer began to speed up and was almost on 00:00:00.

*Outside*

*B*O*O*M*

The explosion shattered all the glass, the building shuddered and the interior of the building collapsed leaving everyone outside shocked to the very core.

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**AN - If you were wondering the "rose" case was a serial killer who leaves a rose as a calling card - is made up - i think**

**Another chapter coming right up. Will reveal some more information as not all events were revealed - oooohhh.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you are enjoying so far, as i'm not even getting started.**

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*Moments before the explosion*

A lab tech is busy in the very same room as the bomb with her headphones in and her music cranked up.

*Adam*and*Hawkes*

"Do you hear that?"Sheldon said.

"that sounds like...no, I better go check I out" Adam said.

"Ok, but if you're not out in one minute, I'm coming back for you"

Adam ran around the level he was on checking the place was deserted as it should be and no one was left behind.

Adam got back to the room the bomb was located in and noticed a lab tech was still working in there.

Before he could see that she was just about to flick the switch to an EM pulse right next to the bomb, but it was too late.

He yelled but heard no response, due to the headphones. He didn't think he should risk checking the timer since the EM pulse may have caused a malfunction in the detonator, so he pulled her away and started running, pushing her in front of himself.

"What the hell Adam?"

"There's a bomb"

Her thoughts, _"Oh no, what have I done"_

They made it to the stairs, but the bomb went off before they could get out.

The force from the blast pushed her down the stairs, forcing her unconscious.

Unfortunately for Adam his head hit a door frame knocking him unconscious immediately and he was flung down the stairs at a great speed, hitting various body parts on things as he went.

* * *

Luckily Hawkes was outside of the building.

*Outside*The*Building*

"Sir will you please stand behind the line?" An officer said trying to keep everyone safe.

"I'm sorry I can't do that my friend is still up there" Sheldon said running towards the entrance.

Before he got the chance to enter the building the bomb went off and the building collapsed leaving the structure intact but forcing Hawkes back and knocking him off his feet.

Mac, Stella and the team ran to his side and helped him up.

"Adam. He's still inside" Sheldon managed to force out of his lips.

"It's ok Sheldon, we'll get him out" Stella said.

"_Adam" what have you gotton yourself into now?!_

Meanwhile in the mess that used to be the stairwell Adam and a mysterious lab tech lay in it somewhere buried under all sorts of crap, that used to be a building.

* * *

**Will they be alright???? Who the hell is this female lab tech??? Will they be found???**

**Until next time...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait, I was in New York (unfortunatly did not see any filming). This is now the story on the top of my to do list, so more frequent updates should be in the near future.**

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"_Oww, what hit me? Adam? ADAM!" she thought as her mind swiftly lifted the haze._

The pretty female lab technician was coated in dust from the building just like everything else and was also covered in some rubble from the building.

Somehow she had only sustained a head injury, a few minor scrapes and bruises and a broken ankle, which isn't bad when she could have been blown sky high, she just hoped that Adam hadn't been.

She quickly started to free herself so she could find Adam or maybe get some help.

*Adam's*POV*

"_What's that noise??" he said concentrating on it._

"ADAM!!!"

"_I'm over here...wherever here is"_

"Oh, my God. Adam, where are you? Don't leave me here all alone in the dark"

"_I'm here, you're not alone, well I hope we're not"_ , "I'm here" Adam whispered realising that he hadn't said anything aloud this whole time.

Adam used all his energy to open his eyes, but soon after started to regret it. After he had opened them and his vision cleared he saw a thick piece of piping sticking out of him and his blood everywhere.

He tried wheezing out where he was but he couldn't do it, instead he started to choke on his own blood, luckily for him she heard that and came running, well limping towards his location.

"Adam?" She said going as fast as he could.

From her perspective all she could see was his head, blood seeping from the gash on his forehead and around his lips. As she was heading towards his she noticed his eyes drift shut again as he drifted back, unconscious.

She knelt down as close as she could and started clearing the debris. It didn't take long as the pieces were small and relatively light.

When she saw the rest of his condition she gasped.

Adam began to stir as the pain started to bleed through to his senses; probably due to all the weight on top of him being shifted.

He began to try and push himself up but the rod through his body was stuck.

"Try to stay still" She said in a calming voice.

"funny" Adam said in a more steady yet quiet voice.

"seriously, I am going to dig you out so I can get you out and to the hospital" she said on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Calm down, I'm sure someone's coming to get us and besides I want you to get yourself out".

"No, Adam, not again, it's all my fault the bomb went off and I won't let you die for my mistakes".

"Rachel, isn't it?"

She replied with a nod.

"It wasn't your fault and I don't know about you but I don't plan on dying any time soon"

"Even so, I am not leaving you alone, because I don't know about you, but I don't want to be alone right now, we'll get out together, as a team"

"I may not know you that well but I have seen that look too many times"

"what look?" Rachel said raising an eyebrow.

"The 'You can't change my mind' look"

*Outside*

Fireman - "The main structure of the building is stable for the moment and we are almost ready to go in. Using our infrared cameras we have located two people in the building; one is mobile, the other seems unmoving but both are alive for the moment"

"If it's OK with you, some of us will assist, we have sufficient training and at least one of our team is down there for sure".

*Adam*and*Rachel*

Rachel finished clearing all the debris that was trapping Adam.

"I don't want to risk pulling out the pipe, because I don't want to risk you bleeding out on me".

"But I don't think I'll get very far with it still inside of me".

"I'm no doctor but I don't think you'll get very far if you bleed to death"

"Touché. You know if, i mean once we get out of here would you like to go out, I mean that one of your friends said you had a cruch on me, not that i could blame you, not saying i don't like you, because I do, I mean you're really pretty"

"I'd love to" Rachel said cutting in. "Are you normally this nervous" she continued.

"Just around people I like" he said blushing and resisting the urge to continue babbling.

"I just hope this isn't the blood loss speaking"

"me too" Adam sighed.

She ripped off a piece of her vest top, since that was still pretty clean and started to wipe away some of the blood on Adam's face and held it firmly on his head to stop the bleeding since he had let go of the piece she had given him earlier **(A/N - was not actually** **shown)**.

Meanwhile Mac, Stella, Flack and Hawkes were all in their safety gear and made their way inside with the assistance of a few more firemen whilst Danny manned the infrared scanner, directing them where to go via radio.

"Hey did you hear that? ... Of course you didn't" Rachel said noticing that Adam's eyes were closed but noted that his chest still rose and fell.

She made her way to where she heard the sounds and carefully started to clear more of the debri hoping that Adam would hang on and that she wouldn't have to add Adam's death to her conscience.

As she was doing this Adam's eyes fluttered open.  
His head felt a little foggy.  
_"Where am I? Why do I feel like crap?"  
_He looked down slightly towards his chest as it felt like it was on fire.  
_"Holy crap!"_ was his first reaction.

"What the hell happened" Adam said aloud.

"Adam, what are you going on about?" she said tilting her head to the side.  
Her expression soon turned to a frown when she started recalling some of the first signs of shock.

He started struggling, trying to stand up.

"Adam sit down, you're going to hurt yourself".

"Not until this, thing, is out"

"NOO!" she said trying to push him to the floor with a dive. He suddenly turned out of the way but she kept on going and hit her head on the wall (well a flat hard surface which resembled a wall).

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**I think you guys deserve a double post - review if ya think ya do :D - Next one is ready to go, just say the word**


	4. Chapter 4

**Nearly finished - all those who are reading - cause you guys are awesome, so a big thanks to you and as soon as i finish this another Adam whump is on my to do list - hehe**

* * *

*Outside*

Danny who was watching what was going on inside started to radio some updates to the team who were climbing through the inside the mess that was meant to be a building.

"Hey, guys, you better hurry it up, the more mobile one is rushing the other, no wait they missed and are now incapacitated or worse. The one who is impaled seems to be removing the object from themselves. Whoever they are they don't have much time" Danny reported using the radio.

*Inside*the*Building*

Adam pulled the metal rod from himself and is currently standing there looking at all the blood on it and all the blood now blooming on his shirt.

He collapses shortly after due to shock and blood loss; which is starting to increase by the look of the blood pooling around him.

*

"We're almost there, tell the paramedics to be on alert, chances are they are both severely hurt" Hawkes said to Danny over the radio.

*

Rachel began to wake, shortly after Adam had lost consciousness.

She carefully picked herself up off the floor and staggered her way to Adam's side since she felt more dizzy and deduced that she had a concussion.

On her way over she had to stop and throw up, and she didn't need to be a doctor to know that wasn't good.

She fell back down next to Adam and her hair was now coated in his blood but as she passed out her hand fell on to his wound which shocked him awake.

"Sorry Rachel" he whispered remembering everything.

He began to hear voices shouting for him, it sounded like his friends and right now all he wanted to do was save Rachel and if he could have both, get a girlfriend too.

He dragged himself towards where he heard the voices.

*

"ADAM!!" Mac shouted for the countless time.

"Hey guys, the one who was impaled is dragging themselves towards your position" Danny's voice said through their radios simultaneously.

"We're on it" Flack said back into the radio.

*

Adam couldn't muster up the strength to say anything let alone shout anything people could hear.

So he did the next best thing, he continued to drag himself toward what he hoped would be help for Rachel, as far as his arms would allow.

He knew that even if he did pass out the blood trail he had left behind would lead them to Rachel, although he wasn't happy it was his blood.

After a few minutes he had travelled a further three meters and he couldn't go any further and decided to have a 'rest'. It wouldn't have mattered anyway as if he had looked up a little he would have seen that he couldn't have gone any further.

*

"Step it up you guys, they both have stopped moving and the body heat of one closest to you seems to be decreasing" Danny said over the radio.

"Were almost through" Hawkes replied.

The firemen they had brought along were helping the team to clear the last of the debris which was blocking their way.

As soon as the hole was big enough and deemed safe enough by the firemen, Sheldon and Mac made their way through.

Mac went first and Sheldon followed. As Sheldon got through he was now facing Mac who helped him out since there was a little drop.

They both turned and notices what looked like Adam, face down in a pool of blood.

"Help me turn him over" Mac said.

Hawkes said nothing as he knew of nothing to say at a time like this.

Sheldon and Mac turned Adam over as carefully as they could but Adam gasped in pain forcing his eyes to snap open.

"Got to help Rachel" Adam said pathetically trying to get up.

"Adam take it easy, she'll be fine, it's you were really worried about"

"sorry"

"for what?" Sheldon asked.

"It's no good he's lost too much blood" Mac told Hawkes.

"I'll stay with Adam, you go check on Rachel" Mac said.

Sheldon replied with a nod and went off, torch in hand.

He shortly came back jogging.

"She's got a concussion and a broken ankle, but there's nothing I can do for her here".

* * *

**Take that as a cliff hanger - and I'll have more for you tomorrow :D**

**A/N - I kind of got tired of writing who's POV and stuff since it switched between two like all the time so i stuck with a simple * so i think you get the idea.**

**You know the drill review, if you have an opinion, if you don't you may be a sheep (not literally of course)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back and just to let you know i have absolutely no intention of leaving any story unfinished. Short story was I was still writing, albeit whenever the chance came by and it's hard when tests are being thrust into my face constantly**

**

* * *

**

Flack and Stella were further behind clearing the debris so that the medics could get in and out with their people.

A few paramedics were allowed in; those equipped with stretchers and with the necessary training for these kind of situations. They stabilized Rachel's ankle using a brace. She was quickly moved out, throughout the debris that was a building at one time or another.

Adam was started on a blood transfusion to buy time and was patched up as well as they could without performing surgery out there in the very unsanitary conditions.

They had to get him out now; the building wasn't that safe at the moment and the blood transfusion would only buy them time.

Hawkes helped with the stretcher as the other paramedic made sure that none of the life preserving devices they had implemented fell out on route.

As soon as they were out a gurney was waiting and Adam was immediately transferred and rolled into an ambulance.

Danny, Lindsey, Stella, Flack and Sid were all suddenly rendered completely silence when they saw Adam being rolled out; he was so pale and the blood was made more vivid and gory that it stood out even from a distance. And they all knew that it was Adam that had been through the worst, they didn't wish that it would have happened to Rachel, they just wished that it hadn't happened to their Adam at all.

Mac took the ride in the ambulance with Adam, Sheldon wanted to go, but arguing right now would delay the time that it took for Adam to get the help he desperately needed, so he made a quick decision and went in Rachel's ambulance.

The rest of Adam's surrogate family took their own cars to the hospital immediately as soon as the ambulance had left.

The journeys to the hospital had been a blur, except for Mac's his had been horribly vivid and was just glad he had spared Sheldon from it, it would have caused nothing but more guilt, for not being in there with him.

Adam's heart had stopped twice, they had barely been able to bring him back the last time and it took longer than anyone would have liked.

* * *

**_Meanwhile the person who had orchestrated this was fuming. Apart from the fact the bomb went off prematurely, the evidence they wanted destroyed had been saved. They vowed that one way or another they would get what they wanted. The fact that lives may have been lost, concerned them not, as a loss of life via their hands was quite a routine by now._**

* * *

The road to the hospital seemed eternally long. Once the doors were forced open Adam was rolled out and met by a swarm of doctors and nurses ready to go.

Almost as soon as he had got through the first set of doors he was refused access to the room Adam was pushed into; a nurse quickly led him to the nearest seats before returning to the reception.

Adam was rushed into surgery as the others arrived; it had taken them longer to stabilize Adam that they had expected.

The nurse had taken Adam's details off Mac. As soon as he saw the small crowd heading for him he stood up to meet their anxious faces trying to compose himself; after all he is the boss, he has to stay strong.

They all continued sitting in the waiting room, very few words of meaning being exchanged. It's not like they could do much with the main building obliterated. Even if there was something for them to do, when they have a man down everyone understands and their whole world seems to stand still.

They all desperately wanted to nail the person behind all this but with no lab and no evidence left for them to find; they had nothing.

They were called for by a nurse asking if they wanted to see Rachel Clarkson.

They went to see her since it gave them something to do and they had all met her on occasion and she seemed like a nice enough girl.

Rachel was deathly pale, her left leg in a cast, her forehead riddled with stitches.

Her eyes were open and unblinking until she saw them all standing in her doorway.

"I'm so sorry" Rachel said dryly.

"What for?" Mac said.

" Can you tell me what happened, none of the people here are saying anything" she said rather hoarsely.

Sheldon took the hint and brought over a glass of water. She tried to grab it but her hands kept missing. Hawkes brought the straw to her lips instead. He put the glass back soon after.

"What happened?" she repeated.

"The lab blew up"

"Was anyone else hurt?"

All she heard in return was silence.

"Adam" she whispered.

"no, no, no, no, no..." she chanted as her mind was assaulted with images.

Flack snagged a nurse from outside.

The nurse saw the scene before her and deemed it necessary to sedate Miss Clarkson. Rachel was too preoccupied to notice the nurse approaching her IV port. Soon the images subsided and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

After all the commotion everyone went back into the waiting area.

Their patience was soon rewarded as a doctor walked up to them, thankfully not wearing their operating scrubs.

"Mr Ross is out of surgery, there were no major complications, but the next 24 hours are critical" when the doctor said no major complications he meant that every time Adam's heart stopped he was brought back soon after.

After hearing the partially good news the mood seemed to be lifted somewhat.

Lindsey went back to Rachel's room and picked up her coat that she had left in the room earlier. Just as she was turning to leave she had to turn back as something white had caught her eye. On further inspection there was a white card (the size of a business card) with a black rose on top.

Danny walked in to see what was taking Lindsey to long.

"Montana?"

"you got a pair of gloves on you?" she said stepping away from Rachel, so that Danny could see.

"No, I'll go grab a pair off a nurse"

Danny shortly returned with the whole gang with him as he had explained the current situation; and they had a job to do.

Messer handed over the gloves to Lindsey as this was her find.

She put them on and carefully picked up the card and turned it over. She sealed it in an evidence bag which she always carried with her.

She handed it over to Mac.

He read it quietly but loud enough for them all to hear.

"Roses are red,  
and so is blood,  
stop looking for me,  
or more will be dead"

"Danny, you and Stella go check the CCTV footage see if they caught him on camera and see if there were any witnesses"

They nodded and walked off.

"Do you think Adam and Rachel are in any trouble?" Sheldon asked.

"If he can slip past us anything is possible, Don you organise sufficient security as you see fit"

"Right" Don said letting the situation sink in.

Leaving Hawkes, Lindsey and Mac alone in the room with Rachel, who was still unconscious.

"Lindsey you take this to get processed. Hawkes, you wait for Adam to get out of surgery and stay with him until we have all the necessary precautions in place".

Lindsey left first and Mac put his hand on Sheldon's shoulder before he was out of reach, "We're going to catch him" he said giving Hawkes' shoulder a firm squeeze.

Sheldon gave a small smile showing the trust between the two and left to find Adam.

Mac waited with Rachel who gave the appearance of being sound asleep but in reality was just knocked out by the cocktail of drugs in her IV port.

Mac wished he could feel that kind of calm but his mind was processing all the facts that had just been thrown at him. His mind was working a million miles per hour, under the impression that if he stopped then he would break down; it was always the same in these kind of situations; the only problem was that it happened far too often.

"_part of the job eh..." Mac thought._

Sheldon was thrilled to find out that Adam was now out of surgery, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw. He notified them of the basics of the current condition and they suggested moving him to a private room instead of the ICU and since Sheldon was not going anywhere they deemed it acceptable. He was only allowed to see Adam once he was transferred to his own room.

He was warned briefly of what he might see before stepping inside the room.

For once it wasn't as bad as he thought. There was a lot of padding on his chest, a few neat rows of stitches, a few cables, no ventilator, a canulla, and his skin wasn't as pale as it had been when he was laying in his own blood. It was an image that he would never forget, but was grateful for the fact that it wasn't the last time he saw him breathing.

The nurses informed him that it was only a matter of time before he regained consciousness once they had reduced the pain medication enough to allow it, which they have started already. By then there were uniforms on the door but Sheldon refused to leave until he could tell Adam what was going on, the last thing they all needed was Adam to wake up alone and confused.

Rachel had woken as soon as the sedatives had worn off and Mac had explained to her the situation and informed her of Adam's condition.

Mac went to check in with Danny and Stella.

"There are two cameras that cover all the routes in and out of that room. We used the time since we were last in the room up until Lindsey returned. We've looked through it repeatedly and the only people with the chance to go into her room were staff, we've checked them using facial recognition and the staff id photo's. Surprisingly there were no delivery guys, so the rose killer is working here" Danny said.

"I've pulled all their files and they have all been working here for over a year, except for three who have been here for a few months. They are all squeaky clean with no previous records but it has to be someone on this list" Stella reported.

*Adam's*Room*

Sheldon picked his head out of his hands and saw movement under Adam's eyelids.

He was about to say Adam's name to see if his eyes were playing cruel tricks on him but Adam's hand started to move.

No nurses were in the vicinity so it was just him and Adam.

"Adam" Sheldon said giving his hand a squeeze.

His eyelids slowly fluttered open revealing unfocused eyes.

"Adam" Sheldon said again hoping to snap him out of his daze.

"Hawkes?"

"Yeah Adam it's me"

"What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Suddenly a few images and thoughts flashed through his head.

"I didn't mean to, she was just trying to help..."

"Hey" Sheldon said obvious that he had been trying to get his attention for some time.

"Is she..." Adam paused daring not to finish his sentence.

"she's fine, a mild concussion and a broken ankle. You on the other hand have just been through major surgery. So we want you to take it easy. Can you do that for me?"

Adam nodded.

* * *

_This time the rose killer was changing out of their scrubs, planning their next moves. They had decided who they were going to target in the event that the crime scene investigators did not heed their warning. And they have some pretty good ideas about what they were going to do to them, and none of them would leave them alive._

* * *

**A/N - I may have forgotten about Don and Stella for a while so sorry for the brief catch up. This is a longer chapter than originally intended, so please enjoy and reviews are like carrots to my plot bunnies.**

**Stay tuned for some interesting plot developments.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the long wait but the season of exams is over for this year. So I will be picking up pace, from here on out. Luckily for all those now reading, I had been slowly writing before today and happened to have this ready to go.**

* * *

Adam caught a glimpse of black through the window on his door.

"What's going on?" Adam said clearly confused.

"We believe that the rose killer is here" Sheldon said trying to break the news as gently as he could.

"What else aren't you telling me?" Adam said reading Sheldon like a book, as perceptive as always.

"The rose killer has made it clear that if we pursue them that they will hurt the people we care about...and we suspect that they work here"

Adam tensed at the words, putting two and two together, "so I take it that's security outside the doors"

"Don't worry about it Adam we're going to catch them before they harm anyone else" Sheldon said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Adam knew in this line of work; nothing was this simple.

After 15 minutes give or take, Adam's body began to betray him and gave into exhaustion and allowed him to finally fall asleep.

Sheldon squeezed his leg and left the room to nail the killer, before they struck again

The female nurse who had been monitoring Adam came to a halt outside his door.

The security on his door examined her ID badge and confirmed that she was not on the list of suspects and allowed her to proceed.

Adam was sleeping heavily.

The nurse checked his vitals and injected something into his IV port.

She looked at her watch.

"_One, two, three, four..." She counted in her head._

As soon as she reached five she heard two distinct thumps which if all was going to plan was the guards "going off duty".

Adam began to stir and woke up dazed and confused.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that there were no more black silhouettes in the window, _"Maybe it's over" he thought positively._

"What's going on?" Adam said still a bit groggy.

"There's been a change in plan. It seems your friends aren't heeding their warning"

At hearing this Adam snapped out of it, his hands went to the rails and he pushed himself upright. This sent pain shooting through his middle.

"Hey, sweety take it easy, you just had surgery. Just sit back and relax, it'll all be over soon" She cooed.

* * *

**I feel so evil leaving you there. I have the next chapter ready to go after some fine tuning. Review if you're still reading...and the next chapter will be up by Friday.**


	7. Chapter 7

**See I'm back and I'm not going anywhere until this is finished.**

* * *

The door was suddenly darkened by another figure.

The door opened and a male nurse stuck his head in.

"Hey, you done? We got to go" he said.

"almost, there let's go"

First Adam felt something impact his shoulder, then he heard a BANG, then he saw the gun, then he looked at his shoulder and now all he could see was red.

****Rest Of The Team****

"Hey, don't those two look like their running a little bit too fast" Flack said.

"Sheldon, you go to Adam. Lindsey, Rachel. Rest of you with me"

****Main entrance to Hospital****

They all stepped into the killers line of site.

"Freeze, NYPD" Don said flashing his badge as protocol dictated.

They skidded to a halt.

The male nurse whipped out a gun. His companion jumped in front of him just in time so that when Mac and Don fired in defence she took the shots and fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

He dropped the gun to the floor and he collapsed to his knees and moved stray hairs away from her face.

****Room 35****

Adam was drifting in and out of consciousness.

The wet feeling beneath his fingers reminding him that he had to do something.

_"Rachel" his mind whispered_.

He used his left hand to pull the cables away, forgetting to keep pressure on his shoulder and allowing the blood to flow.

Adam sat up and cautiously planted his feet on the floor.

He carefully got up using the bed rails as support and transferring his weight to lean on the wall.

At this point he dare not take his hand away.

He continued to use the walls to keep him balanced as he made his way to the door .

If he were to look at himself in a mirror, he would have seen the trail the blood made down his blue scrubs.

Adam got out of his room and into the hallway.

His shoulder felt like it was on fire so his right hand instinctively went to it.

Something told him that it was important for him to keep pressure on it.

He managed to walk along without the wall for a while, but he had no idea where he was; he had never had the chance to memorise the halls and his vision was beginning to blur at the edges; he couldn't read the signs.

"_I just need to rest for a little while" Adam said leaning his back against a wall._

He slowly slid down as his eyes slowly shut.

Adam tried focusing on his breathing but instead inadvertently allowed himself to fall unconscious and his right hand dropped to the floor; once again allowing a river of blood erupt from his shoulder wound.

* * *

**I thought this would be the perfect place to leave this. But I have the next chapter ready to go, so while you mull over the current events, I will be writing the end of the story. Next Update: Soon**

**Reviews speed up posting...but lack of reviews will not slow it down!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's a slightly longer chapter for you guys...**

* * *

Hawkes ran all the way to Adam's room, but froze momentarily upon seeing blood outside the room.

Once he saw his room was empty, he stepped back outside and saw more blood.

He started to walk faster, the blood trail zigzagging across the hall.

As soon as he passed through the next set of double doors the blood trail ended.

Sheldon turned around in panic looking for signs of Adam.

As soon as his eyes locked onto the bleeding figure leaning against the wall, he lunged forward to help his friend.

"Adam, can you hear me" Sheldon said checking his pulse.

By this point Adam had lost a lot of blood enough to form a blood pool.

Sheldon used his radio and requested help.

He was informed that they were coming as fast as possible with a gurney.

"Doc" Adam mumbled.

"Hey" Sheldon said using his free hand to move Adam's head so that he was looking him in the eye, well more or less.

"Just a distraction" Adam wheezed.

"What?" Hawkes said lost.

"She..." was all Adam could mumble before he gave in to the blood loss.

"Adam? ADAM! Hang on. HEY, WE'RE OVER HERE" Sheldon said hearing help nearby.

As Adam was lifted onto the gurney Sheldon was pushed aside.

Sheldon felt too numb to do anything. But was swiftly shook out of it when he saw Adam's left hand drop something before he was rolled off.

An injection, containing...according to the label a stimulant.

"_Even in Adam's state of mind, I doubt he had the sense to take this himself"_

Sheldon jogged back to Mac and the others to inform them on his findings, syringe still in hand.

**Room 47**

Lindsey made her way to Rachel's room as swiftly as she could.

She had no idea if anything had happened to her. Her sheets were perfectly in place and to the untrained eye, she looked asleep. The heart monitor was still beeping away, but Lindsey had to be sure.

She let out a breath when she felt her steady pulse. One thing was sure though, she was still sedated, didn't even respond to Lindsey's ice cold hands.

****Main Entrance****

"Don't do anything stupid" Don warned, gun not wavering.

"It's too late, someone is still going to die, no matter what happens to me" He spat.

He stroked his lovers face as he watched the life in her eyes fade away.

He closed her eyes and stood up, hands in the air. _"it is what she would have wanted" he thought._

"Wise move" Mac said as he moved in to cuff him.

Sheldon came running in just as the rose killer was being taken away.

Sheldon caught up with the male nurse briefly before he was put into a car.

"What did you give Adam?" Sheldon said waving the empty syringe.

He just smiled in return. As the officers pushed him into the back of their vehicle.

Sheldon jogged back to the others, who were feeling more than left out of the loop.

"I have to find out what it is. I believe they gave him something else, they shot him in the shoulder maybe as a distraction" Sheldon said as briefly as he could.

Mac solemnly nodded and allowed Sheldon to run off and find a mass spectrometer.

* * *

**What was in that syringe? Will they find out in time to help Adam? Will he even make it ?**

**A/N I'm not sure yet - next chapter by the end of the week. Review to give me your opinion and sway the outcome of the story.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I apologise to those I kept waiting. But the story now has an end, so frequent updates coming your way!**

* * *

More than one GC-MS was simply not required here, they don't usually have to deal with multiple unknown chemicals of this nature.

After injecting the sample into the GC-MS, all Sheldon had to do was wait, he just hoped Adam didn't need saving and it was all in his head.

"How is he?" Mac asked when the doctor who had been responsible for Adam, walked up to him.

"The gunshot wound, didn't hit anything major. He suffered severe blood loss and trauma" The doctor paused.

"But..." Mac pushed.

"He seems to have slipped into a coma, for a reason we can't identify the cause and he has developed a fever and we can't seem to lower his temperature"

"We have good reason to believe that he has been injected with some unknown chemical" Mac stated.

"That would explain it. We are already running a series of tests but without knowing exactly what it was, anything we try to do to help, may do more harm than good"

"May we see him?" Mac said, noticing the team's uncharacteristic silence.

They were all there except for Sheldon who was doing his best with what they had, which by their lab's standards were pretty poor.

"Yes, but I should warn you he is in critical care"

They all dismissed his comment; Adam has been through worse, hadn't he? He always bounces back, from torture, even from car bombs, what's one little injection got on him?

They all quietly if not mentally gasped at what they saw, he wasn't pale, he was flushed, connected to many machines via many cables.

No signs of movement, from him, at all. It all felt wrong to everyone, he was always moving, always talking, shy at first, but never with his friends, his family.

* * *

**The beginning of the end.**

**A/N - I am not happy with what Adam was injected with so, lets just assume anything is possible, therefore making it plausible. TBC.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Pretty much the final chapter as promised - I couldn't quite get the detail I wanted in, making the lapse of time poorly shown. Feel free to use your imagination :)**

* * *

Sheldon was determined to wait for the results; he couldn't face seeing Adam in a deteriorating condition.

As soon as the results came in he bolted to the nearest landline and called the front desk, telling them exactly what Adam had been injected with.

"A modified strain of salmonella"

It wasn't too bad, but it meant that Adam wasn't getting the treatment he needed and they gave it to him knowing that the standard medical response would only make him worse. Ordinary anti-biotics wouldn't cut it, if nothing was done, Adam's condition would continue to deteriorate and would most likely die a slow drawn out death.

The Hospital were known for their fast action. This wasn't a contagion but this was a matter of life or death.

* * *

They hooked him up to a new set of antibiotics and his core temperature began to go back down and after a week now only had a low grade fever and the doctors said that Adam should wake up from the coma soon. But until then they wouldn't take him off the ventilator.

The whole team were on leave until the building had been rebuilt. They estimated two months. The builders were working fast and efficiently.

They all kept visiting Adam in smaller groups, talking to him, keeping him updated, and telling him how much they wanted him back.

When they weren't at the hospital they struggled to keep their minds occupied.

Mac walked in when Sheldon was talking to the unresponsive Adam.

Sheldon stopped talking and turned to see who it was.

"Sorry to interrupt. I'll just..." Mac began.

"No, don't I was just catching Adam up" Sheldon said indicating the empty seat on the other side of Adam's bed.

They had been there often enough that the regular beat coming from Adam's heart monitor could quite easily fade into the background.

The pace of Adam's heart began to increase, and his eyelids and hands began to twitch.

Mac went to get someone.

At this point Sheldon had jumped up out of his seat and was waiting for Adam to regain consciousness.

Sheldon gave Adam's arm a squeeze.

His eyes slowly fluttered open.

He saw Sheldon smile and tried to say hey, but it suddenly hit him that he wasn't breathing on his own and there was a tube down his throat and it didn't belong there.

He tried to stay calm and relax, but he still seemed to be fighting it.

A nurse rushed in and shot a tranquiliser into his bloodstream.

The closer to unconsciousness he got to the easier it was to breathe and the more relaxed he felt.

"That should put him out for an hour or two" the nurse announced.

She left and a Doctor walked in and did a few checks to see how things were.

"He's going to recover much faster now that he's out of the coma" The Doctor said feeling the other two's anxiousness.

They quickly told everyone the good news and since they had no work to do, they hauled ass to get there to see it for their own eyes.

They hadn't realised how much they were a family until one of their own was fighting for their life.

Shortly after Sheldon and Mac left the room to tell the others, Adam was taken off the ventilator.

His return to consciousness was much slower due to the drugs.

"Hey" Stella softly said.

"Hey" he croaked.

As if on cue, Danny held out a glass of water and allowed Adam to drink through the straw.

"What happened?" Adam asked, voice slightly more normal.

"A long long story. I'll fill you in later" Flack said.

"We were starting to worry about you" Lindsey said, Lucy in arms.

"You didn't have to come" Adam said, referring to Lucy.

"She wanted to see you. You've been in a coma for a little over a week".

"_Oh"_ he mouthed, understanding the expressions they all wore.

"Did we get them?"

"We got them" Mac said tapping him on the shoulder.

"What about Rachel?"

"She's here" Flack said stepping out of the way of the chair she had fallen asleep in.

"Been here every day, as long as she was allowed to stay" Sheldon said smirking, and making Adam blush at the same time.

"Your doctor says that you should be out by the end of the week" Danny said.

"Sweet" he said slightly jerking his shoulder.

"But until then, you take it easy" Mac said.

* * *

The rose killer surprisingly had a heart. Albeit room for only one, and she was dead.

Her death was on his hands and he couldn't cope with seeing her eyes without life every time he closed his eyes.

He hung himself in his cell, using his belt and was found the following morning.

* * *

As soon as Adam was out of the hospital he always had one of his friends looking after him.

They had time to kill whilst the crime lab was rebuilt and went out for various meals and sorted their home lives out.

Adam quite liked having all this good attention, but still couldn't wait to go back to work. After all having so much free time meant that they were running out of things to do.

* * *

**I assure you that this was not rushed. I have an epilogue coming your way. Anyone who feels they can improve the flow of time in this chapter - feel free to mail me; credit will be given.**


	11. Epilogue

**Sorry this took so long, just finishing up my exams :)**

* * *

The building looked exactly the same on the outside, but most of their equipment had been replaced/upgraded. After such a catastrophe they received the funding they needed and more to make the changes that were needed if they were to keep solving cases and putting criminals behind bars. None of them were stupid enough to leave irreplaceable items in their office's so most of them just replicated how their workspace looked before. Security had been tightened in the building so this kind of thing wouldn't happen again.

* * *

Adam was working in the lab, earphones in, bobbing his head up and down. He looked at his watch and quickly finished putting a load of samples into the GC-MS.

He saw Rachel walking towards the elevator, which would make her pass right by his door.

Adam quickly hung up his lab coat and put on his jacket.

He walked out of the lab just to realise that his car keys were in his locker.

Adam ran in opened it and quickly grabbed his keys before locking it again.

By the time he was back at the elevator the doors were closing and Rachel was already inside, listening to her ipod, completely oblivious to his disappearing face.

Adam sighed but pushed the down button again, hoping the other elevator would get her sooner.

* * *

*Outside*

"Hey Rachel, wait up" Adam said.

Her face lit up like a christmas tree as she stopped and turned around.

"What took you so long?" she said.

"I left my keys in my locker"

"You did spill acid on your last set"

They started to walk.

Without anyone saying a thing, they held hands and continued to walk.

"So where are we going?"

"There's this nice restaurant a few blocks away, it serves your favourite, thai food"

She gave him a look of horror and he burst out laughing.

Rachel gave him a playful push.

"It's Italian, I swear" he said grinning.

* * *

**Short I know, but I needed some closure and now hopefully you have some too. Review and critisize to your hearts content.**


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